Reda Dendani
HMP Long Lartin
24.12.06
I shall start this letter by announcing that I refuse to be
called “Q” any more. I am Reda Dendani, 31, Algerian
national, married and have a step daughter of 7. I’ve been
living in the UK since 1998 as an asylum seeker. Calling me
“Q” was not designed by the Home Office to protect me from
the public. It was the opposite in fact. Labelling me like
an object concealed the human being I am and facilitated the
grip of allegations from the Home Office in the media.
The Home Office issued me with a
deportation order 16 months ago on 11.8.05. This was after I
had spent two and a half years in Woodhill and Belmarsh
prisons, then freed on control orders after the House of
Lords made my detention illegal under the Anti Terrorism Act
2001 on December 2004.
Basically the Home Office
regards me as a suspected terrorist, a threat to national
security, a dangerous man - my presence in the UK is not
conducive to the public good……. These are big words, very
shocking and frightening – well designed for the media but
not supported by any proof or evidence – just allegations!
This has destroyed my life. I would have been prosecuted if
a fraction of what was alleged was true, as I was for a far
lesser offence on which I pleaded guilty. This is to say
there are enough laws to face any criminal in the UK but if
you cannot prosecute someone it is simply because he is
innocent and as such must be free to go.
I’ve paid for the offence
enough; it hurts when you read on the bottom of the Home
Office letters “Building a Safe, Just and Tolerant Society”
or under the logo of the Treasury Solicitors, “Law at the
Heart of Government”.
The Home Office has forgotten
these guidelines and trespassed its limits by ordering my
detention in a high security prison against my will without
any charge. This illegal detention has been a problem and
still is for the prison because of no clear status where all
other prisoners are convicted and me and other foreigners
are not.
The Home Office, in a move
which is the mother of all hypocrisy, is offering me a way
to appeal against its decision through a special court
called SIAC. It is enough to read what Amnesty
International’s 2006 report has said about the UK and it
human rights in this SIAC. I’m not allowed to know and
therefore to cross examine what is held against me. A
madness – a crazy situation. I’m fighting a ghost. Whatever
I say there is always closed sessions where I’m not allowed
in nor my solicitor. This is an affront to the fundamental
justice system.
Because of this, I’ve stopped
resisting my deportation. Better for me to face Algerian
authorities – more straightforward than this Chinese torture
made in UK. I’ve signed all the necessary papers for this
deportation. I’ve seen both the UK representative and his
Algerian counterpart in the prison I’m held in. This was 9
months ago on 24.3.06. The new crazy thing is I’m still in
prison in the UK. It is such nonsense that I’ve taken the
Home Office to court to force it to proceed with the
deportation. I thought because it was High Court not “SIAC”
I will see justice done. My problem is now very simple. The
Home Office wants to deport me to Algeria and I accept to be
deported to Algeria. My case was dismissed on 3.10.06 and
the court reserved its reasons for the decision.
What is going on? If this is
not a Police State, what is one? A foreigner in this country
is a synonym for a criminal; a second class citizen. The
facts speak for themselves and changing the name of things
or giving them the cover of the law doesn’t changes their
reality. That is: I’m a HOSTAGE in this country. I’m held
against my will. I’m in UK’s version of Guantanamo.
Prove me wrong!
Mr Reda Dendani |